Antioxidant Activities of Phycocyanin Microcapsules Using Maltodextrin and Carragenan as Coating Materials

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant activities of phycocyanin microcapsules from Spirulina sp. using maltodextrin (MD) and carrageenan (C) as coating materials. Microcapsules were prepared with five different variations concentration of carrageenan in maltodextrin i.e. 0 %; 0.25 %; 0.5 %; 0.75 %, and 1.0 % (w/w). Results indicated that microcapsule with C 1.0 % of phycocyanin showed higher value in parameters evaluated, i.e. encapsulation yield (12.89 ± 0.289) %, moisture content (8.36 ± 0.059) %, phycocyanin content (2.83 ± 0.072) % and antioxidant activity (49.05 ± 1.017) %. The results of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) microstructures showed that microcapsules with only maltodextrin (C 0 %) as coating material were cracked. It was found that all of microparticles had irregular spherical appearances and various sizes, but the carrageenan had flake appearances.